Asus ROG Phone 5 review: Over-the-top gaming power

Our Verdict

The ROG Phone 5 is a powerful device and an excellent gaming motorcar, but bottomless camera performance holds it dorsum from existence a good all-effectually telephone.

For

Superb functioning
Beautiful AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate
Excellent battery life
Powerful forepart-facing speakers

Against

Disappointing night mode
Beefy and heavy
"Gamer" aesthetic non for everyone
No wireless charging

Tom's Guide Verdict

The ROG Phone five is a powerful device and an excellent gaming machine, but abysmal camera performance holds it dorsum from being a good accommodating phone.

Pros

+
Superb performance
+
Cute AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate
+
Excellent battery life
+
Powerful front-facing speakers

Cons

-
Disappointing night mode
-
Bulky and heavy
-
"Gamer" artful not for anybody
-
No wireless charging

Asus ROG Phone 5: Specs

OS: Android eleven / ZenUI
Screen size: 6.78-inch AMOLED (2448 10 1080); 60 - 144Hz
Processor: Snapdragon 888
RAM: 8GB, 12GB, 16GB
Storage: 128GB, 256GB
Rear cameras: 64MP ultrawide (f/1.8), 13MP ultrawide (f/ii.4), 5MP macro (f/2.0)
Front camera: 24MP (f/2.45)
Video: Up to 8K at thirty fps
Battery: 6,000 mAh
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 12:23 (60Hz) / ten:53 (120Hz) / 10:27 (144Hz)
Charging: 65W
Colors: Phantom Black, Storm White
Size: 6.1 ten 2.seven x 0.36 inches
Weight: 8.39 ounces

The ROG Phone 5 hasn't helped my skepticism regarding dedicated "gaming phones." After all, since these devices use the same organisation on chip as the other best Android phones, what advantages could they possibly offer over a regular handset? The improvements seemed marginal, at least to me.

But gaming phones have thrived, in part by pushing features like fast-refreshing displays to the mainstream. And and then Asus is back with a new generation of its ROG phone, which will be available in iii different variations.

That brings us to the crown king of gaming phones, the Asus ROG Phone 5, the fourth generation gaming phone under the Taiwanese company's Republic of Gamers brand. Asus has made three versions of this device — the base model, the ROG Telephone v Pro, and a limited Ultimate edition.

Regardless of which version you opt for, our Asus ROG Telephone 5 review finds a device jammed pack with hardware and software designed to requite you the best gaming feel. Information technology's in the other smartphone features where the ROG Phone five comes up short, even so.

Editor's note: Nosotros crowned our picks in the Tom's Guide Awards 2021 for phones . The ROG Telephone 5 won 2 highly recommended awards.

Asus ROG Phone 5 review crook sheet

The ROG Telephone 5 uses a custom 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display made past Samsung. It's bright, colorful, and perfectly tailored for gaming.
The ROG Phone five produced the best benchmark results of any Android phone we've tested. information technology managed a 3,673 multicore score in Geekbench 5 and 34.eight FPS in Wild Life Unlimited.
The ROG Phone 5'southward huge 6,000 mAh bombardment lasts for an incredibly long fourth dimension, even when gaming. With its 65W charger, you can recharge the telephone in less than an hour.
The biggest problem with the ROG Phone 5 is the poor camera performance. Photos look lifeless and dull, and they lack depth. Night way is a travesty.
Sound is a major plus for the ROG Telephone 5, including incredible forepart-facing speakers and a headphone jack tied to a quad DAC.

Asus ROG Phone five review: Release engagement and price

The Asus ROG five is now bachelor in the U.South. having initially launched into the U.K. and Europe. However, only the standard $999 model is available, with the top-end Ultimate handset even so missing from American soil.

For residents of the U.Thou. and Europe, the base ROG Phone v with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is available for €799/£799. You can upgrade the RAM to 12GB and storage for 256GB for another €100/£100. For notwithstanding another €100/£100, you can get 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The base model ROG Telephone 5, which we're reviewing here, comes in two colors: Phantom Black and Tempest White. Both units feature the RGB dot matrix ROG logo on the back for that added flair.

Though not included in this review, there is also a ROG Telephone 5 Pro with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for €1199. It comes out in April. Instead of the dot matrix logo on the phone'south dorsum, you become a PMOLED color display that Asus calls ROG Vision. It's customizable in the Armoury Crate app, where you can decide what moving paradigm you want to display.

Finally, at that place's also the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, a commemoration of the ROG brand and gamers everywhere. It not just features a unique monochrome body and with a monochrome PMOLED ROG Vision, but it comes with 512GB of storage and a whopping 18GB of RAM. This is a express edition phone that you can get for €1299, available in May. We accept a separate ROG Phone five Ultimate review if y'all'd like to check that out.

Asus ROG Phone 5 review: Blueprint

The whole await of the blackness base model ROG Phone 5 screams edgy for edginess' sake. It falls into the "gamer" artful and information technology won't exist for anybody. And this is coming from someone who uses a ROG Crosshair motherboard and Strix 2080 Ti in his gaming PC.

I could hope that people accept outgrown the need for sharp accents, huge logos, and RGB to prove they're worthy of the title of "gamer," especially on a phone. Alas, Asus has gone all out with the ROG Telephone five's design. It won't be for everyone, even those who spend a lot of time playing video games.

I take big hands and the half dozen.1 x 2.7 x 0.36-inch ROG Phone v still feels bulky and unwieldy, merely that's the cost of the huge 6,000 mAh bombardment within it. The 6.78-inch display takes upwardly the front of the telephone with minimal bezels all around. There's no hole punch or notch for the front camera, which is nestled in the meridian bezel.

The ROG Phone five features an optical fingerprint sensor built into the display. The characteristic works OK, though I had trouble with accuracy and false negatives multiple times a day. The in-brandish sensor on the Galaxy S21 Plus behaves far more consistently.

Tucked away at the very edges of the top and bottom bezels are the front-facing stereo speakers, which are some of the all-time speakers I've heard on a phone. They're punchy, they're powerful, and they'll wow y'all with their depth. But there'southward also a headphone jack with a quad ESS DAC, so you tin have an fifty-fifty better audio feel with the ROG Phone v. I really appreciated this inclusion.

I of the weirdest things virtually the ROG Telephone 5 is where Asus placed the telephone's ports. The power USB-C port is on the left side underneath a removable (and easily-losable) cover. Alongside it is the POGO connector for the optional AeroActive libation accessory, which clips onto the phone. The cooler accessory is a basically a small fan that attaches to the back of the phone and assists with cooling. The ROG logo on the back of information technology glows and at that place's a substantial kickstand if yous want to prop the telephone upward. A second USB-C port lives on the bottom of the frame, but that is used for the Kunai 3 Gamepad.

Besides the cooler accompaniment, the ROG Telephone 5 employs AirTriggers to boost the gaming experience. These ultrasonic shoulder buttons can be mapped to a specific action per game. They don't piece of work perfectly in every title, and in some cases they can be a hindrance, but it's just i more affair to make the ROG Phone feel like a step above non-gaming phones.

The ROG Phone five is a big boy, make no mistake. It's heavy, which leads to quicker wrist and finger fatigue (especially while gaming for long periods of time), but it'due south also a solid device. Asus did an first-class job with this phone's build quality, making it feel very premium.

Asus ROG Phone 5 review: Display

The star of the show is the 6.78-inch custom AMOLED display manufactured by Samsung. The ROG Phone 5 sports a beautiful screen, perfect for gaming. It'due south huge, it has excellent color reproduction, and information technology gets plenty vivid. I really enjoyed this display while I was using the ROG Phone v.

You besides get four refresh charge per unit modes to choose from: 60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, and Auto. The latter adaptively changes the refresh charge per unit depending on what you're doing. If you're scrolling a lot or playing a game, the refresh rate will ramp upwards, scaling dorsum downwardly for more static activities. Plainly, 60Hz is the almost battery-efficient refresh rate, but the 144Hz mode is bachelor for games that support higher frame rates (like Dead Cells).

In its Natural colour scale, the ROG Phone 5 reproduced 180.2% of the sRGB and 127.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamuts. Its Delta-Eastward score, where 0 is perfect, was 0.31. For comparison, in its Natural mode, the Milky way S21 Plus managed 103.8% of sRGB and 73.five% of DCI-P3 with a Delta-E of 0.xviii. (Delta-Due east numbers closer to null are more accurate.)

A pinnacle-tier gaming phone ought to take a display to match its high-terminate specs and the ROG Phone 5 delivers. It's likewise plenty vivid enough to see outdoors, even in direct sunlight, hitting 748 nits in our testing, which is inline with the Galaxy S21 Plus' 747 nits.

Asus ROG Phone 5 review: Cameras

The ROG Phone 5 may be a gaming telephone, but information technology still features cameras but like any other handset. You go a triple camera array on the back: a 64MP ultrawide main sensor joined by a 13MP ultrawide shooter, and a 5MP macro lens.

Those cameras turned in a disappointing performance. Compared to a comparably priced Milky way S21 Plus, the photos I took with the Asus ROG Telephone five didn't print me. Asus normally does a adept job with cameras and software, so this is a bit surprising.

In optimal lighting conditions outdoors, the ROG Phone 5 produces adequate shots with decent colors and depth. Compared to the Galaxy S21 Plus, which likes to overexpose and oversaturate, the ROG Phone five's picture feels a fleck restrained. It's nifty, though at that place'due south something off virtually it.

In direct sunlight, the ROG Phone 5 started to stumble. The ruby of the burn down hydrant looks a flake dim, almost toned downwardly, in the ROG Telephone's shot. Information technology'south a flake more vibrant in the S21 Plus' photo, but both phones had a bit of problem regulating themselves in the harsh sunlight. Overall, though, the Milky way S21 Plus did a better job.

Moving indoors, both phones did well with the statuette of Merida. The colors of her pilus and dress expect nice in both images, even if the Galaxy S21 Plus' looks a scrap stronger in comparison. These pictures were taken in the late afternoon with soft ambient lighting, but I like how they both turned out.

Stepping outside for portraits, the ROG Phone 5 used a relatively mild mistiness radius in comparison to the Galaxy S21 Plus, but I await very overexposed in the shot. The S21 Plus manages to capture some of the redness in my peel, just its portrait isn't a whole lot amend than the ROG Phone 5'southward.

Putting the ROG Phone five upward against the Galaxy S21 Plus for nighttime mode, you can immediately come across the divergence. It'south well-nigh like the ROG Phone five's night style didn't even try, whereas the grill is actually visible in the S21 Plus' photo.

For selfies, the ROG Phone 5 uses a 24MP forepart photographic camera. It captured the yellow in my camera strap, but the whole photo looks a bit cool. The berries and bricks in the background are blurry, too. Overall, this selfie is not one I'd want to postal service or share anywhere. The S21 Plus made everything a chip dark-green, but everything in the shot stayed in focus.

Asus ROG Phone five review: Operation

The ROG Phone v is sold on the fact that information technology's the ultimate mobile gaming machine, replete with everything you need to see yourself succeed in your favorite games. While no corporeality of hardware will make up for a lack of skill or understanding, having the best internals y'all can perchance get doesn't hurt.

The ROG Telephone 5 uses the latest organization-on-chip from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 888, paired with 8GB, 12GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on which configuration you lot order. Y'all will want for nothing as far as raw performance is concerned. The Snapdragon 888 however pales in comparing to the A14 Bionic from Apple, but information technology's the best SoC you can get in an Android device correct now.

This is the all-time Snapdragon 888 device we've tested thus far. In Geekbench v, the ROG Phone v (with X-Fashion disabled) scored 3,672 on multicore. That trounces the Galaxy S21 Plus' 3,300 result, fifty-fifty if information technology comes up shy against the iPhone 12 Pro'southward 3,880.

In 3DMark'southward Wild Life Unlimited, the ROG Telephone five scored five,806 with an boilerplate fps of 34.8. That barely beats the S21 Plus' 33.four average fps, simply falls behind the iPhone 12 Pro'southward 39 fps average.

Anecdotally, this telephone is a monster in games, but even it struggles with a title similar Genshin Impact on max settings. I saw frame rates bouncing betwixt 17 and 45 just in the main hub surface area without fighting or anything. In Phone call of Duty: Mobile, my other favorite mobile game, the ROG Phone 5 was a champ. I saw consistent frame rates, accurate touch response, and enough of battery life to go along me playing for countless matches (most of which I dominated, I might add together).

With the correct profile selected (more than on that later on), Asus' phone gives you its all and then some in games. It's too bad that all this power feels relatively wasted on what's bachelor in Google Play right now, simply that's more than a commentary on mobile gaming rather than anything confronting the ROG Telephone 5.

Asus ROG Telephone v review: Battery life and charging

The ROG Phone 5 comes with a total bombardment capacity of vi,000 mAh, split into two 3,000 mAh power packs. This allows for the simultaneous 65W charging speed and for Asus to use a PCB with the Snapdragon 888 in the centre (for heat purposes). These big batteries contribute to the phone'southward overall size, simply it's all worth it given how long the ROG Telephone 5 can last on a charge.

In our battery life exam, where the telephone is left to endlessly reload webpages over a cellular connection at 150 nits of screen effulgence, the ROG Phone 5 performed extremely well. In 60Hz way, the ROG Phone 5 managed a whopping 12 hours and 23 minutes. In 120Hz mode, that drops to a all the same impressive x hours and 53 minutes. Finally, ramping the brandish up to 144Hz nets x hours and 27 minutes.

In real-world utilise, the ROG Phone v is a battery-life champ. Outside of gaming, I was able to get more two days of use earlier having to charge again. When gaming, the battery can last for a long time, likewise, even when playing Genshin Impact in 144Hz style with the AeroActive cooler and Kunai 3 Gamepad fastened.

Asus claims that the ROG Phone 5 can charge from 0% to seventy% in just thirty minutes on the 65W charger and to full in about an hour. Charging a 6,000 mAh battery from empty to total is a large task, so that's an impressive number. In 30 minutes, the ROG Telephone went from 0% to 70% on its 65W charger. It reached 44% in 15 minutes.

To make sure that the batteries concluding long in terms of lifespan, Asus has introduced a few charging modes. The Steady charging mode slows downward the charging speed, so the battery will take longer to fill, but it'll as well generate less heat. Scheduled charging is what it sounds like and tin can piece of work with active alarms (i.e. the phone stops charging when your morning alarm goes off). You can besides set an upper charging limit of 80%, 90%, and 100% to extend the battery's lifespan. Finally, y'all tin get with Featherbed charging, which uses the power cable to provide power to the telephone without charging the battery itself.

Asus ROG Telephone 5 review: Software and special features

With the ZenFone vi, Asus inverse its mobile software direction and introduced a minimal, stock-like Android feel like yous might find on Pixels or OnePlus devices. There were several additional features tucked abroad in the Settings, but the new ZenUI offered users an unhindered software feel. That has continued somewhat with the ROG Phone v.

ZenUI looks much the same as before, merely there are multiple ROG "enhancements" on offer, which look a lot like Asus' ROG Windows software, for better or for worse. I'll give the company credit for consistency. I'd say 90% of the ZenUI experience, based on Android 11, is nice, minimal, and more often than not skilful.

Asus wants the gaming tweaks and additions to add together meaningful value. Past dragging in from the border of the screen while in-game, you get a characteristic-packed control panel called Game Genie. This offers shortcuts for optimizing the system for peak gameplay, turning off notifications, blocking navigation, setting refresh rates, and accessing the AirTrigger and macro settings. It also offers some quick stats like your average FPS, CPU temp, and clock speed.

I frankly forgot to use the Game Genie mostly. Its aesthetic heavily contrasts with the relatively demure default ZenUI look. I think the shortcuts are nice, particularly for setting up AirTriggers and macros, but I'd rather the design match the rest of the phone rather than some nebulous connection to the ROG PC stuff. The ROG software, called the Armoury Crate, in general is total of flashy colors and boisterous, "futuristic" sounds.

Like its PC brethren, the ROG Phone 5 has unlike profiles for different purposes. Spearheading these is called X-Fashion, which is what Asus considers to be the all-time for gaming. Only put, X-Style maximizes functioning. There's also Dynamic, which is my preferred profile — information technology adjusts to your utilize and needs accordingly. The Ultra durable contour aims to maximize battery life, while a custom mode lets you lot tweak settings like you might for your motherboard. You tin get into some really nitty gritty details here.

The ROG Phone five comes with an RGB dot matrix display on the back of the phone, the colors of which can be customized in the Armoury Crate. You can set the secondary display to react to notifications, games, and some other options. I don't think it'southward actually necessary, but it definitely makes the phone stand out.

Asus ROG Phone five review: Verdict

If you're looking for ultimate mobile gaming performance, the ROG Phone 5 is definitely at the tiptop of the list. Its gargantuan battery lasts an incredibly long time, the custom AMOLED display is gorgeous, and the raw power makes almost everything playable at sixty fps or above.

However, if taking practiced pictures matters to y'all, the ROG Phone five is only okay. Its night style falls flat, however. The photos are past no means bad, but I prefer the ones produced past other similarly-priced phones similar the Pixel 5, iPhone 12, and Milky way S21 Plus.

Purchase the ROG Telephone 5 if yous desire a mammoth battery that's incredibly difficult to kill or if yous desire the peak gaming functioning available on Android. It'south a true marvel of engineering to be certain. And you become some actress RGB and gamer flair for your money (if that's your thing), which helps the phone stand up out from the crowd.

Hashemite kingdom of jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all things phone-related. He'southward written almost phones for over five years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than than relaxing in his home with a volume, game, or his latest personal writing projection. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Jordan tends to lurk on social media, simply yous can best reach him on Twitter.